Hi all.
I've been wanting to buy an Imacon scanner for a long time and am nearing gathering the (crazy scary) funds. A quick search on ebay and I was surprised to see reserve prices for the Imacon 343 scanner as low as $1400US! I've never considered the 343 because I've only ever seen results from the larger 848. Perhaps I've been blinded by snobbism and thought the higher prices the bigger models fetch, along with their higher reported D-Max, meant they were obviously better. I'm not sure.
I'm not really interested in scanning 4x5" or reflected media, and I'm not so concerned with higher speed output etc, but I am interested in reliability and service support. I was almost about to buy a Nikon 9000ED as I'm used to using the older 8000ED at work. I use the glass carrier with the Nikon to great success but the Imacon scans I've had done from an 848 were noticeably better - both in tonality and, arguably, sharpness.
How does the 343 compare to the 848 considering I'm only really interested in scanning MF film and the output resolution is the same on both machines? What's the real world difference in the D-Max ratings and how does noise compare? Importantly, the 343 has firewire, which is no worries, but what's the word on using current software on Mac OSX and the new Snow Leopard OS? Lastly, do Imacon / Hasselblad still service the 343?
Thanks for your answers!
Tim
I've been wanting to buy an Imacon scanner for a long time and am nearing gathering the (crazy scary) funds. A quick search on ebay and I was surprised to see reserve prices for the Imacon 343 scanner as low as $1400US! I've never considered the 343 because I've only ever seen results from the larger 848. Perhaps I've been blinded by snobbism and thought the higher prices the bigger models fetch, along with their higher reported D-Max, meant they were obviously better. I'm not sure.
I'm not really interested in scanning 4x5" or reflected media, and I'm not so concerned with higher speed output etc, but I am interested in reliability and service support. I was almost about to buy a Nikon 9000ED as I'm used to using the older 8000ED at work. I use the glass carrier with the Nikon to great success but the Imacon scans I've had done from an 848 were noticeably better - both in tonality and, arguably, sharpness.
How does the 343 compare to the 848 considering I'm only really interested in scanning MF film and the output resolution is the same on both machines? What's the real world difference in the D-Max ratings and how does noise compare? Importantly, the 343 has firewire, which is no worries, but what's the word on using current software on Mac OSX and the new Snow Leopard OS? Lastly, do Imacon / Hasselblad still service the 343?
Thanks for your answers!
Tim